A Question of Force

Experts on sexual violence against women speculate why Oregon’s numbers are so high.

Last week, WW published an issue devoted to V-Day, an international campaign set for Feb. 14 to draw attention to violence against women.

Some of the numbers
were surprising: 27 percent of Oregon women say they have been raped,
and 55 percent say they have faced some sort of sexual violence other
than rape in their lifetime.

The numbers come from
a 2010 nationwide survey of 9,086 women conducted by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. Oregon’s numbers were high—putting the
state at No. 2 in the nation, second only to Alaska.

What’s behind these numbers?

We asked a handful of experts, and most aren’t sure why Oregon numbers regarding sexual violence against women are so high.

The CDC survey
included under the umbrella of “sexual violence” things like stalking,
physical aggression and physical assault, and asked women about their
experiences that might fit under the CDC’s definition.

“We have a lot of
victims say something like, ‘It wasn’t a crime like you’d see in the
movies,’” says Jessica Amo, director of Portland State University’s
Women’s Resource Center. “Everything that falls outside of that
definition doesn’t necessarily get reported.”

The survey asked
women about their lifetime experiences, wherever the incidents might
have taken place, and regardless of whether the incidents were reported
to police. FBI statistics show Oregon’s rate of forcible-rape reports
have consistently run higher than the national average. In 2011,
Oregon’s rate was 31.4 per 100,000 population, compared to 26.8 for the
U.S.

The CDC also cautions that the state-by-state comparisons are subject to wide margins of error.

“It’s
bad all over,’” says Gayle Sheller, program director of the Domestic
Violence Resource Center in Hillsboro. “The simple mathematics of
surveys means you’re going to have some higher states than others. But
the national numbers are staggering as it is.”

But the numbers do
show the percentage of women living in Oregon who say they have been
raped or subject to sexual violence are, statistically speaking, higher
than the national average.

Fox says her
organization isn’t sure why Oregon ranks so high. “There’s been no
statewide comprehensive investment in dealing with youth and
prevention,” Fox says. “We as a state have failed in terms of
prevention.”

Rebecca Nickels,
executive director at the Portland Women’s Crisis Line, thinks women in
Oregon may be more willing to talk because there has historically been
more awareness here than elsewhere.

“We were one of the
earlier crisis lines in the country, and we’re in the top five for the
number of calls we receive,” Nickels says. “These kinds of things may
support the theory that Oregon women are more in tune to what’s going on
and are more willing to report it or look for help.”

Others see situations specific to Oregon as possible explanations.

“We have very high
unemployment here, and that can correlate with domestic violence,” says
Lisa Marshall, communications manager for Raphael House, a women’s
shelter. “When someone loses a job, they feel a loss of control, and
they exert that control over a partner.”

Others say that—regardless of the specific numbers—the survey draws attention to the problems of sexual violence.

“I don’t necessarily
think we should read into it too much,” says Emily Trussell, sexual
assault services coordinator for the Mid-Valley Women’s Crisis Service
in Salem. “We are doing a much better job educating people on what
sexual violence is, and we’re talking about it.”

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